| Director | Alice Rohrwacher |
|---|---|
| Genre | adventure film, comedy drama |
| Runtime | 130 min |
| Country | France, Italy, Switzerland |
| Budget | €9.6 million |
| Box office | $5.2 million |
In 1980, Arthur, an irritable and sullen British former archaeologist, returns to his Italian home after being released from jail. After lashing out at his fellow passengers and a traveling salesman, he goes to visit his ex-girlfriend Beniamina's mother, Flora, at her crumbling estate, where he also meets her long-suffering housemaid and student, Italia. Beniamina has been missing for an undisclosed amount of time, but her mother is convinced she will one day return. Beniamina's sisters are sick of Arthur seemingly freeloading off their mother and try to find him a job, which he refuses.
At his hut, Arthur discovers that his collection of artifacts is missing. Arthur confronts his band of rakish tombaroli friends, and they return the stolen artifacts and attempt to reconcile. He rebuffs them initially, but accompanies them to the Epiphany celebrations in town. During the festival, a farmer approaches them about locating a tomb on his land.
Arthur, his gang, and a young photographer named Melodie (an associate of Spartaco, Arthur's antiquity dealer contact), search for the tomb, which Arthur locates using a dowsing rod and a 'chimera', a vision he experiences near gravesites. Arthur and his friends deceive the farmer and excavate the Etruscan grave goods for themselves. When the tombaroli bring their loot to Spartaco's contact, they are disappointed by their compensation.
As Arthur hangs around Flora's house, he grows close to Italia, who is hiding her two children in the house. After a festival, Arthur confesses his feelings to her on a beach. However, they are interrupted when Arthur experiences a chimera. Italia is upset by the revelation that Arthur and his friends are tomb robbers, as she believes that the grave goods he loots belong to the souls of the dead, not the living. She asks what Beniamina would think of him, but Arthur's band tells her that Beniamina is dead. Mocked and insulted, she storms away and threatens to call the police.
The "tomb" which Arthur detected turns out to be an untouched underground shrine. Arthur is transfixed by the central statue of a goddess, and is heartbroken when his friends decapitate it in order to move it out of the chamber. The band is interrupted by police sirens and flee with the statue's head, unaware that the sirens were a trick by a rival group which loots the rest of the artifacts in the shrine. Flora's daughters tell her that she must move into an old age home, as Beniamina is dead, and evict Italia after discovering her children.
After learning that they have the statue's head, Melodie brings the band to Spartaco, her aunt. She is on a boat, auctioning off the "priceless" headless statue to curators. Believing the statue to be their rightful loot, the tombaroli attempt to blackmail her with the statue's head. Arthur unwraps the head, but, remembering Italia's words, hurls it overboard into the lake.
On the train back, Arthur envisions the passengers and salesman from the first scene asking him where their grave goods have been taken. He parts ways with his band, which is furious with him; he arrives at his hut only to see it demolished by the police. Italia's daughter finds him and takes him to Italia, who is squatting with other single mothers in an abandoned train station. She invites him to live with them, but Arthur sneaks away after staying the night.
Arthur joins the rival band of tombaroli. When he locates an underground chamber, they implore him to enter it first. As it collapses onto him, Arthur has a final vision where he reunites with Beniamina.